A Utah Senate Democrat will be running a bill this year that would, over the next decade, move Utah from dead last in the nation for per-pupil spending to second-to-dead last.
All Ben McAdams wants to do is funnel up to $50 million more a year into public schools. Predictably, you could hear Republican howls from miles away.
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Truth is, Utah teachers do their best, often spending a lot of their own money, to educate nearly half a million kids every year. So it’s incomprehensible that such a modest proposal wouldn’t be embraced by parents — many of them sitting lawmakers — whose income taxes fund the system.
Welcome to the 2012 Utah Legislature, which is shaping up to be 45 days of elbow-throwing, speechifying, stand-taking and posturing over subjects both major and trivial.
For example, one bill would transfer control of public and higher education to the governor’s office, which requires an amendment to the Utah Constitution. Why? The collective wisdom of generations of educators and administrators is insufficient? Gary Herbert doesn’t have enough to do?
As for the totality of the session, I asked Thomas Wright and Jim Dabakis, chairmen of the state Republican and Democratic parties, respectively, for their thoughts.
Wright anticipates a concerted effort to prioritize public education and give it a stronger foundation — "more than just brainstorming, but substantive" progress.
Both would like a more open conversation between Democrats and Republicans, who own a supermajority in both chambers.
"Lots of Republicans want the Democrats to have their views heard," Wright says. "We need to hear different points of view and make good decisions for the state."
Dabakis, on the other hand, wonders if tea party types have reached the apex of their power, which has been palpable among the "starve the beast" types who apparently want to scrap public education for private schools that offer "education" more in line with their way of thinking.
The Legislature’s Patrick Henry Caucus "has taken over," Dabakis says. "We need men and women of courage who stand up and speak about the future of our kids. We’re in danger of losing decent education."
What, he asks, is the plan to get us out of 50th place in per-pupil spending? "We ought to throw a little money at it and see what happens."
Which is exactly what McAdams is trying to do.
Wright and Dabakis know there’s so much more at stake in Utah and the nation — job creation, essential state functions such as social and workforce services, and preserving Utah’s high credit rating to get and keep construction projects going while interest rates are low.
What does it take to get all that and more done? A well-educated populace capable of identifying problems and fixing them.
Come spring, Democrats and Republicans will hold their nominating conventions for state and federal office, with primaries soon after. Finally, the November elections will decide a new raft of lawmakers.
Two things need to happen. First, we get serious about boosting Utah’s dismal voter turnout. Second, we vote in people who understand that dead-last, even second-to-dead last, is unacceptable.
Peg McEntee is a news columnist. Reach here at pegmcentee@sltrib.com, facebook.com/pegmcentee and Twitter: @peg-mcentee.
Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
